volumes (various pagings) : 27 cm

Includes bibliographical references and index

pt. I. The emergence of human communities, to 500 BCE -- 1. Nature, humanity, and history, to 3500 BCE -- African genesis -- Interpreting the evidence -- Human evolution -- Migrations from Africa -- Technology and culture in the Ice Age -- Foodgathering and stonetools -- Gender roles and social life -- Hearths and cultural expressions -- The agricultural revolutions -- The transition to plant cultivation -- domesticated animals and pastoralism -- Agriculture and ecological crisis -- Life in Neolithic communities -- The triumph of food producers -- Cultural expressions -- Early towns and specialists -- diversity + dominance : Cave art -- Environment + technology : the Iceman -- 2. The first river-valley civilizations, 3500-1500 BCE -- Mesopotamia -- Settled agriculture in an unstable landscape -- Sumerians and Semites -- Cities, kings, and trade -- Mesopotamian society -- Gods, priests, and temples -- Technology and science -- Egypt -- The land of Egypt : "gift of the Nile" -- Divine kingship -- Administration and communication -- The people of Egypt -- Belief and knowledge -- The Indus Valley civilization -- Natural environment -- Material culture -- Transformation of the Indus Valley civilization -- Diversity + dominance : violence and order in the Babylonian New Year's Festival -- Environment + technology : environmental stress in the Indus Valley -- 3. New civilizations in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, 2200-250 BCE -- Early China, 2000-221 BCE -- Geography and resources -- The Shang Period, 1750-1045 BCE -- The Zhou Period, 1045-221 BCE --Confucianism, Daoism, and Chinese society -- The Warring States Period, 481-221 BCE -- Nubia, 3100 BCE-350 CE -- Early cultures and Egyptian domination 2300-1100 BCE -- The Kingdom of Meroë, 800 BCE-350 CE -- Celtic Europe, 1000-50 BCE -- The spread of the Celts -- Celtic society -- Belief and knowledge -- First civilizations of the Americas : the Olmec and Chavín, 1200 -250 BCE -- The Mesoamerican Olmec, 1200-400 BCE -- Early south American civilization : Chavín, 900-250 BCE -- Environment + technology : divination in ancient societies -- Diversity + dominance : human nature and good government in the Analects of Confucius and the legalist writings of Han Fei -- 4. The Mediterranean and Middle East, 2000-500 BCE -- The cosmopolitan Middle East, 1700-1100 BCE -- Western Asia -- New Kingdom Egypt -- Commerce and communication -- The Aegean world, 2000-1100 BCE -- Minoan Crete -- Mycenaean Greece -- The fall of late Bronze Age civilizations -- The Assyrian Empire, 911-612 BCE -- God and king -- Conquest and control -- Assyrian society and culture -- Israel, 2000-500 BCE -- Origins, exodus, and settlement -- Rise of the monarchy -- Fragmentation and dispersal -- Phoenicia and the Mediterranean, 1200-500 BCE -- The Phoenician city-states -- Expansion into the Mediterranean -- Carthage's commercial empire -- War and religion -- Failure and transformation, 750-550 BCE -- Diversity + dominance : protests against the ruling class in Israel and Babylonia -- Environment + technology : ancient textiles and dyes -- Issues in world history : animal domestication

pt. II. The formation of new cultural communities, 1000 BCE-400 CE -- 5. Greece and Iran, 1000-30 BCE -- Ancient Iran, 1000-500 BCE -- Geography and resources -- The rise of the Persian Empire -- Imperial organization -- Ideology and religion -- The rise of the Greeks, 1000-500 BCE -- Geography and resources -- The emergence of the polis -- New intellectual currents -- Athens and Sparta -- The struggle of Persia and Greece, 546-323 BCE -- Early encounters -- The height of Athenian power -- Inequality in Classical Greece -- Failure of the city-state and triumph of the Macedonians -- The Hellenistic synthesis, 323-30 BCE -- Diversity + dominance : Persian and Greek perceptions of kingship -- Material culture : wine and beer in the ancient world -- Environment + technology : ancient astronomy -- 6. An age of empires : Rome and Han China, 753 BCE-330 CE -- Rome's creation of a Mediterranean Empire, 753 BCE-330 CE -- A republic of farmers -- Expansion in Italy and the Mediterranean -- The failure of the Republic -- The Roman Principate, 31 BCE-330 CE -- An urban empire -- The rise of Christianity -- Technology and transformation -- The origins of Imperial China, 221 BCE-220 CE -- the Qin unification of China, 221-206 BCE -- The long reign of the Han, 202 BCE-220 CE -- Chinese society -- New forms of thought and belief -- Decline of the Han -- Diversity + dominance : the treatment of slaves in Rome and China -- Environment + technology : water engineering in Rome and China -- 7. India and Southeast Asia, 1500 BCE-1025 CE -- Foundations of Indian civilization, 1500 BCE-300 CE -- The Indian subcontinent -- The Vedic Age -- Challenges to the old order : Jainism and Buddhism -- The evolution of Hinduism -- Imperial expansion and collapse, 324 BCE-650 CE -- The Mauryan Empire, 324-184 BCE -- Commerce and culture in an era of political fragmentation -- The Gupta Empire, 320-550 CE -- Southeast Asia, 50-1025 CE -- Early civilization -- The Srivijayan Kingdom -- Environment + technology : Indian mathematics -- Diversity + dominance : relations between women and men in the Kama Sutra and the Arthashastra -- Issues in world history : oral societies and the consequences of literacy

pt. III. Growth and interaction of cultural communities, 300 BCE-1200 CE -- 8. Networks of communication and exchange, 300 BCE-1100 CE -- The Silk Road -- Origins and operations -- Nomadism in Central and Inner Asia -- The impact of the Silk Road -- The Indian Ocean Maritime System -- Origins of contact and trade -- The impact of Indian Ocean trade -- Routes across the Sahara -- Early Saharan cultures -- Trade across the Sahara -- Sub-Saharan Africa -- A challenging geography -- The development of cultural unity -- African cultural characteristics -- The advent of iron and the Bantu migrations -- The spread of ideas -- Ideas and material evidence -- The spread of Buddhism -- The spread of Christianity -- Diversity + dominance : travel accounts of Africa and India -- Environment + technology : camel saddles -- 9. The Sasanid Empire and the rise of Islam, 200-1200 -- The Sasanid Empire, 224-651 -- Politics and society -- Religion and empire -- The origins of Islam -- The Arabian Peninsula before Muhammad -- Muhammad in Mecca and Medina -- Formation of the Umma -- Succession to Muhammad -- The rise and fall of the Caliphate, 632-1258 -- The Islamic conquests, 634-711 -- The Umayyad and early Abbasid Caliphates, 661-850 -- Political fragmentation, 850-1050 -- Assault from within and without, 1050-1258 -- Islamic civilization -- Law and dogma -- Converts and cities -- Women and Islam -- The recentering of Islam -- Diversity + dominance : secretaries, Turks, and beggars -- Environment + technology : chemistry -- Material culture : head coverings -- 10. Christian societies emerge in Europe, 600-1200 -- The Byzantine Empire, 600-1200 -- Am empire beleaguered -- Society and urban life -- Cultural achievements -- Early Medieval Europe, 600-1000 -- the time of insecurity -- A self-sufficient economy -- Early Medieval society in the West -- The Western Church -- Politics and the Church -- Monasticism -- Kievan Russia, 900-1200 -- The rise of the Kievan Empire -- Society and culture -- Western Europe revives, 1000-1200 -- The role of technology -- Cities and the rebirth of the trade -- The Crusades, 1095-1204 -- The roots of the Crusades -- The impact of the Crusades -- Environment + technology : iron production -- Diversity + dominance : the struggle for Christian morality -- 11. Inner and East Asia, 400-1200 -- The Sui and Tang Empires, 581-755 -- Buddhism and the Tang Empire -- To Chang'an by land and sea -- Upheavals and repression, 750-879 -- The end of the Tang Empire, 879-907 -- The emergence of East Asia, to 1200 -- The Liao and Jin challenge -- Song industries -- Economy and society in Song China -- New kingdoms in East Asia -- Chinese influences -- Korea -- Japan -- Vietnam -- Diversity + dominance : law and society in China and Japan -- Environment + technology : writing in East Asia, 400-1200 -- 12. Peoples and civilizations of the Americas, 200-1500 -- Classic-era culture and society in Mesoamerica, 200-900 -- Teotihuacan -- The Maya -- The Postclassic Period in Mesoamerica, 900-1500 -- The Toltecs -- The Aztecs -- Northern peoples -- Southwestern Desert Cultures -- Mound builders : the Hopewell and Mississippian Cultures -- Andean civilizations, 200-1500 -- Cultural response to environmental challenge -- Moche -- Tiwanaku and Wari -- The Inca -- Diversity + dominance : burials as historical texts -- Environment + technology : Inca roads -- Issues in world history : religious conversion

pt. IV. Interregional patterns of culture and contact, 1200-1550 -- 13. Mongol Eurasia and its aftermath, 1200-1500 -- The rise of the Mongols, 1200-1260 -- Nomadism in Central and Inner Asia -- The Mongol conquests, 1215-1283 -- Overland trade and disease -- The Mongols and Islam, 1260-1500 -- Mongol rivalry -- Islam and the state -- Culture and science in Islamic Eurasia -- Regional responses in Western Eurasia -- Russia and rule from afar -- New states in Eastern Europe and Anatolia -- Mongol domination in China, 1271-1368 -- The Yuan Empire, 1271-1368 -- The fall of the Yuan Empire -- The early Ming Empire, 1368-1500 -- Ming China on a Mongol foundation -- Technology and population -- The Ming achievement -- Centralization and militarism in East Asia, 1200-1500 -- Korea from the Mongols to the Yi, 1231-1500 -- Political transformation in Japan, 1274-1500 -- The emergence of Vietnam, 1200-1500 -- Diversity + dominance : observations of Mongol life -- Environment + technology : from gunpowder to guns -- 14. Tropical Africa and Asia, 1200-1500 -- Tropical lands and peoples -- The tropical environment -- Human ecosystems -- Water systems and irrigation -- Mineral resources -- New Islamic Empires -- Mali in the Western Sudan -- The Delhi Sultanate in India -- India Ocean trade -- Monsoon mariners -- Africa : the Swahili Coast and Zimbabwe -- Arabia : Aden and the Red Sea -- India : Gujarat and the Malabar Coast -- Southeast Asia -- Social and cultural change -- Architecture, learning and religion -- Social and gender distinctions -- Diversity + dominance : personal styles of rule in India and Mali -- Environment + technology : the Indian Ocean Dhow -- 15. The Latin West, 1200-1500 -- Rural growth and crisis -- Peasants, population and plague -- Social rebellion -- Mills and mines -- Urban revival -- Trading cities -- Civic life -- Gothic cathedrals -- Learning, literature, and the Renaissance -- The Renaissance -- Humanists and printers -- Renaissance artists -- Political and military transformations -- Monarchs, nobles, and the Church -- The Hundred Years War -- New monarchies in France and England -- Iberian unification -- Diversity + dominance : persecution and protection of Jews, 1272-1349 -- Environment + technology : the clock -- 16. The Maritime Revolution, to 1550 -- Global maritime expansion before 1450 -- The Pacific Ocean -- The Indian Ocean -- The Atlantic Ocean -- European expansion, 1400-1550 -- Motives for exploration -- Portuguese voyages -- Spanish voyages -- Encounters with Europe, 1450-1550 -- Western Africa -- Eastern Africa -- Indian Ocean States -- The Americas -- Environment + technology : Vasco da Gama's fleet -- Diversity + dominance : Kongo's Christian king -- Issues in world history : climate and population to 1500

"Advantage edition"--T.p. v. II

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